Spectroscopic properties of neodymium-doped yttrium orthovanadate single crystals with high-resolution measurement

The absorption and fluorescence spectra of the neodymium-doped yttrium orthovanadate (Nd:YVO4) single crystal were investigated carefully, For the 808.8-nm absorption cross section, the published values varied between 18.4 and 25.6 x 10(-20)cm(2) for pi-polarization. The authors evaluated this spectroscopic parameter with high resolution at 0.5nm, and discovered 48.4 cm(-1) at 808.8 am even for the absorption of 1 at.% Nd3+-ion-cloped YVO4 single crystal. This value is 1.3 times larger than the well-known value. and confirms that Nd:YVO4 is very suitable for microchip lasers. and that certain laser characteristics of Nd:YVO4 of previous works should be re-evaluated.